Monthly Archives: September 2014

I had a terrible time deciding what to do tonight.  I wanted something relatively simple, because I have some super fun stuff I am going to try this week, but I did not want to be boring.  I LOVE how these turned out, even if they remind me a bit of peppermints and Christmas.

Here’s what I used to get here:

From left to right: Poshe quick dry, HK Girl, Essie Grow Stronger, Pueen SE03A, OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls, Zoya Tomoko, and Mundo de Unas Red.

As usual, a coat of Essie Good to Grow started the show.  Then two coats of My Boyfriend Scales Walls and Tomoko:

Above, Tomoko is not yet top coated, but My Boyfriend Scales Walls is topped with one coat of Poshe to help them dry quickly for stamping.

I then stamped with MdU Red, which, as a disclaimer, stained my skin:

A little whitening toothpaste, and it was as good as new and minty fresh:

Easy peasy.  Don’t let polishes that may stain scare you off unless you need attractive bare nails.  My nails are definitely stained, but they are always painted, so it does not much matter.  And getting it off my skin is as quick as washing my fingers with toothpaste.

Here’s how it turned out:

Even if they look like peppermint candies, I love them.  Don’t be surprised if you see these bad boys rebooted in two months!

Thanks for stopping by, and come back again soon!

Well, I feel like I finally busted out of my mani rut.  At least a bit.  This isn’t complex, and it is yet another blue mani, but I am happy with it.

Here’s what I used:

From left to right: NYC New York Minute, Essie Grow Stronger, HK Girl, Pueen Buffet 61, piCture pOlish Freya’s Cats, Mundo de Unas Silver, and, of course, my Messy Mansion Marshmallow head.

**Warning**Tangent** On Saturday, I received my second order from MdU, including the Silver I used in this mani.  I’m hoping to get some swatches up this week, but if the Silver is any indication, I am going to be very very happy.  Also – last week I received the full pro set of stamper heads from Messy Mansion.  I had initially only purchased the marshmallow because the pro set was sold out, but snapped it up when they restocked.  I want to get some shots of that up this week too.  It is going to be a busy week…work had better not get in the way!

ANYWHO…I threw down a coat of Essie Grow Stronger followed by one coat of Freya’s Cats (no top coat):

I had initially planned to take this mani in a different direction, but, as usual, I changed direction mid-mani and threw down a second coat (again, no top coat):

So pretty, right?  Here’s a close-up:

I have had this polish for a bit, but had not used it.  Off the cuff, it reminds me of Zoya Dream.  If anyone is interested, I can swatch for comparison, but I was mid-mani and so did not do it tonight.  Either way, it is a freaking gorgeous color.  SO PRETTY!

I threw a coat of NYC In a New York Minute over the top to help the polish dry before I stamped.  Then I headed in with some stars.

Overall, I am very happy with this mani.  But tomorrow, I really need to do something other than blue!

Thanks for stopping by, and stick around — there is so much more fun stuff coming!

I should have stopped here:

But I didn’t.  Of course I didn’t.  That is just one color.  One gorgeous color.  Why would I leave it alone??!

Let’ start this sad tale from the beginning:

From left to right: OPI Matte Top Coat, NYC In a New York Minute, Essie Grow Stronger, Pueen SE04B, Messy Mansion marshmallow stamper, Essie Penny Talk, Zoya Sansa.

After my Essie base coat, I put down one coat of Sansa.  Yes, that first picture just ONE COAT.  So pretty, right??  Want to see another?  Of course you do:

But I couldn’t stop there.  No….of course not.  I’m megatuce and must stamp ALL things, EVEN IF THEY DON’T NEED IT!  Argh.

So, enter Essie’s Penny Talk.  This is a great polish for stamping.  BUT, not always for me.  I have had some wonderful results with Penny Talk, but sometimes it give me absolute fits.  I think it may be because I don’t work fast enough with it.  I work pretty quick, but I have to work lightning fast with this one.  It could just be me.  Very likely it is.

Anywho…I was frustrated and forgot to take a picture pre-matte.  It wasn’t too bad.  But I wanted to matte it.  I wanted to matte Sansa so bad, because I knew it would be beautiful.  And it is, as long as you look between my patchy stamping.

I should note that before I matted, I top coated with NYC to protect the design.  Or at least, that was my intention.  Sadly, some fingers still streaked despite the top coat.  ARGH!

See?  Awful.  I should have used Seche Vite, because it is thicker.  NYC is a good quick dry, but it on the thinner side.  I don’t know that Seche would have saved this, but it couldn’t have hurt.

This was just an all around fail.  But that’s okay — hopefully someone will read this, learn from my mistakes, and make a gorgeous mani!  Plus, there’s always tomorrow, and I already have a good idea kicking around for my next mani, so stay tuned!

Thanks for stopping by!